Georgia Legislature OKs grocery store bill

Thursday

Mar 28, 2013 at 4:52 PM

The Georgia General Assembly passed on Thursday a bill pushed by Athens-area delegates to allow grocery stores to sell beer and wine within 100 yards of a college campus.

Advocates of the bill say it will make it more likely that a grocery store will locate in downtown Athens as grocers look to the higher-margin items to make urban shops economically feasible. Officials note the pending developments at the Sun Trust property, at about Broad and Lumpkin streets, and the Selig project, at the southeast block of Broad and Oconee streets, as examples of places where a grocery store could locate.

"In either of those places, it would be wonderful," Athens-Clarke County Mayor Nancy Denson said.

She said that should Gov. Nathan Deal sign it - there's been no public indication he won't - she plans to have an ordinance concerning those sales on the commission agenda afterward as soon as possible.

"Hopefully, before too long we'll have a grocery store in downtown," Denson said.

The bill was authored by Rep. Spencer Frye, D-Athens, and Rep. Chuck Williams, R-Watkinsville, was its primary sponsor in the House. Rep. Regina Quick, R-Athens, also signed on to it. In the state Senate, Sen. Frank Ginn, R-Danielsville, pushed it through.

After getting tabled Wednesday, the bill passed the Senate on the last day of the session on a 32-19 vote, then a 163-4 vote in the House. Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, was among those voting in favor of the bill.

Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, noted it is odd to consider guns on campus and nearby package stores in the same session.

"This is not a bill I can support and I hope you will not either," he told his colleagues

Rep. Rusty Kidd, I-Milledgeville, was the only one speaking against it in the House. He worried it would affect every city with a college campus.

"If the college does not want a grocery store to sell beverages 100 yards from its campus, should we not vote no and send it back to the Senate?" he asked the speaker.

Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, said it's up to each community to decide whether to waive the distance requirements.

Frye called it a "win-win for everybody."

"It opens up the potential for more business in our densest urban environment and is about us not standing in the way," Frye said.

Ginn, citing the bill's emphasis on local control and impact on economic development, called it a "no brainer" to support.